FONTANA DELL'EFEFANTE

The Elephant Fountain is located in the center of Piazza del Duomo, in front of the majestic Sant'Agata Cathedral in the heart of Catania. An emblem and a rallying point. Built in white marble by the architect Vaccarini (1735-1736), it is dominated by an elephant carved in basalt and composed of several blocks of lava assembled. This black statue incorporated in the white marble work dates back to the Carthaginian period according to the Arab geographer Al Idrissi who traveled to Sicily in the ^12th century and discovered the statue. The animal nicknamed "Liotru" is the symbol of the city, a magical elephant that protects the city from the eruptions of Mount Etna. A symbol brought from the East with the cult of the goddess of fertility Isis during the conquest of Catania by eastern invaders allied to the Syracusans. In 476 BC, the city was conquered and the name of Catania was changed to Aitna, but the statue of the elephant remained. During the Arab domination, the city was known as Balad el-Fil or Medinat el-Fil, that is to say "city of the elephant". It carries on its back an Egyptian obelisk of 3.66 meters high in granite, engraved with hieroglyphs, dedicated to the cult of Isis and, at the top of the monument, a Christian cross. A globe surmounts the obelisk, surrounded by a crown of palm and olive leaves. So many different symbols for a history rich in the most varied influences (Siculi, Greeks, Egyptians, Christians). The back of the elephant is covered with a white marble mantle on which are engraved the arms of the patron saint Agatha of Catania.

The legend of Liotru the elephant. Liotru, the black elephant on a white base, is a local legend. It is said that its name comes from Eliodoro, the name of a magician who lived in Catania in 725, when the city was a Byzantine province of the Eastern Roman Empire, then governed by Leo III the Isaurian. Eliodoro wanted to become bishop of Catania and then prefect. Faced with his failure, the legend tells that one night, Eliodoro went to the tomb of the heroes, placed himself at the top of a column to call the devil, thanks to a mysterious writing which had been entrusted to him by a Jewish sorcerer. At the top of the column, he tore and scattered the scroll to the wind. Satan finally appeared and asked him what he wanted. Eliodoro told him his ambitions. The devil then told him, "If you deny all faith in Christ, I will place you next to one of my judges, Gaspare, who will be your servant and grant you magical powers." Thus he made a pact with the devil to endow himself with supernatural powers. He would have built the elephant thanks to them in the lava of Etna. Riding the magical creature, he walked around the city, playing jokes and making malicious remarks about the population. Then it is said that he went to the market and bought everything he wanted, paying with gold and diamonds; but once he left, the precious ones turned into stones. Another time he mocked the bishop's nephew. He made him win a horse race, but at the time of the prize-giving ceremony, the winning horse spoke to the astonished passers-by, revealing that in reality it was Satan himself who had joined the magician in the joke and then disappeared. Quite a myth!